The warning from John Lyon’s Charity (JLC) follows news that nearly three quarters of the £200m pot to support small and medium sized charities hit by the coronavirus pandemic is yet to be allocated four months after it was announced by the government.
In early April, the government announced it would provide £750m to charities due to an anticipated £4bn downturn in the sector’s collective income due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
A total of £200m of the funding pot is to be targeted on small and medium sized organisations through the Coronavirus Community Support Fund (CCSF) in England, launched on 22 May, and administered by the National Lottery Community Fund (NLCF).
By the end of July, the NLCF said it had received more than 10,000 applications to the CCSF and had allocated £55m to around 2,300 organisations. It is currently assessing applications totalling £130m.
The NLCF added that to ensure it can meet as many funding requests as possible the fund would close to new applications from noon on 17 August.
However, JLC said many of the small children's charities it supports in nine boroughs in north and west London had yet to receive any money through the CCSF or hear if their bids have been successful.
It has allocated £500,000 of additional grants to help community groups to continue to provide support to vulnerable children and families.
Dr Lynne Guyton, JLC chief executive, said: “We have heard directly from some of our grantees how difficult this time is for them and how their sustainability and longevity is at risk. These are charities on the frontline seeing the devastating impact of Covid 19 on children, young people and their families every day.
“Like many other funders, we have stepped up and increased funding for the sector and were hopeful when the government did the same back in April. However, unlike John Lyon’s Charity, which has responded immediately to small and medium charitable organisations to ensure they are supported and ultimately survive… the government hasn’t.
“To hear that only a small amount of the £750m has been distributed is very concerning because we know from the daily conversations we have with our grantees just how close these organisations are to collapse. If this were to happen, it would be completely detrimental to the communities and the charitable organisations we support.”
JLC has called on the government to provide greater clarity urgently on how the £750m is being distributed and when charities can expect to receive funding, and to ensure grassroots organisations are not forgotten about in the bidding process.
Chloe Darlington, policy manager at Children England, added: "Children and families charities have been expressing grave concerns about the financial impact of the pandemic on their work since the end of March, and the Chancellor promised in April that government support for the voluntary sector would be swift. It's unacceptable that months later it seems the charities families are more in need of than ever are still waiting to receive funding that could be the difference between survival and closure.”
A NLCF spokesperson said: “The National Lottery Community Fund is distributing £200 million of government funding through the Coronavirus Community Support Fund. To date, almost 85 per cent of awards made through this part of the funding for CCSF have gone to micro, small and medium sized organisations.”
